Veronica | RYSE

Author Page: Veronica

Profile: Veronica is from Seattle, Washington and grew up in a family that spent every weekend outdoors. The love for nature she developed led to her involvement in several programs in high school, the most important of which was a student run non-profit outdoor education organization where she organized and ran a number of trips each year. Veronica was also involved in the teen naturalist program at the Seattle Aquarium which trained high school students in marine biology and conservation. She currently attends Quest University and is in the middle of her second year. Through Quest she is taking part in a two month program with Ethical Expeditions in Borneo this January and February to look at diverse flora and fauna and learn about environmental conservation and sustainability. Veronica loves watching obscure documentaries and finding inspiring quotes in books.

RYSE posts by Veronica:

Conservation vs. Restoration

Posted by Veronica on Mar 10th, 2010 in Rainforest Agribusiness | 0 comments

For these last ten days of our expedition, we got on a boat and headed to paradise. Literally. The white sandy beaches, swaying palm trees and the warm turquoise waters of Maratua Island were much too picturesque to seem real. As part of our stay here, we went in two groups to spend a night on nearby Sangalaki Island, previously an ecotourism venture for scuba diving, but now closed off to all except a small group of rangers who live on the island helping protect the sea turtles who come to lay their eggs. The ecotourism program was closed to give the hatching turtles a more... (continue reading)

Palm Oil: Sustainable?

Posted by Veronica on Mar 1st, 2010 in Featured, Rainforest Agribusiness | Comments Off

Palm oil is the most productive of all vegetable oils. Found in most processed foods and various personal products like soap, lotion and cosmetics; it is the most widespread oil on the planet. It is a better option than alternatives like corn oil or soy, and is less expensive to produce because it produces more oil per hectare of plantation. The best conditions for growing palm oil are consistent with the tropical belt: hot and humid. Palm oil grows particularly well in Indonesia where there are less distinct wet and dry seasons and more even annual distribution of rainfall than... (continue reading)

A Sense of Community

Posted by Veronica on Feb 15th, 2010 in Featured, Rainforest Agribusiness | 0 comments

The last thing I expected to find riding in a three person dug out canoe up the Mahakam River was a sense of home. But strangely enough, the first thing I thought of watching these small houseboat river communities go by was how much they reminded me of being back in Seattle in my own little community on the water. It seems to me, it has become increasingly easy to forget the importance of community these days. As urbanization grows and the western focus on individuality spreads with it, community aspects of life are disappearing. A community is a natural human condition. People have... (continue reading)

A helping hand?

Posted by Veronica on Jan 21st, 2010 in Rainforest Agribusiness, Uncategorized | 0 comments

Initial reaction: heartbreak. The intensity of the connection you feel staring into the eyes of an orangutan is vastly underestimated. Visiting Km 38, a facility with 18 caged orangutans was an experience not quickly, nor easily, forgotten. The NGO Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) built most of km 38 in response to the 1997/1998 forest fires when enormous tracts of rainforest habitat were destroyed. Most of the burned, injured and displaced orangutans were brought to BOS. While the facility was busy and crowded then, after more than 10 years the buildings are now vacant and... (continue reading)

The adventure begins!

Posted by Veronica on Jan 15th, 2010 in Rainforest Agribusiness | 0 comments

The 20 of us, 18 Quest University students and Ethical Expeditions leaders Brent Loken and Sheryl Gruber, have been in Balikpapan for almost a week now and are beginning to adjust to the hectic city traffic and life as a spectacle. Our first week has been full of meetings and presentations from incredible people doing important work and research in Borneo. As Jill mentioned, we met with Budi and Danielle Kreb who have been conducting research on the river dolphins in the Balikpapan Bay and Mahakam River, specifically the Arawaddy Dolphin, for 10 years. They started a non-profit... (continue reading)

Ethical Expeditions: fighting rainforest destruction

Posted by Veronica on Dec 19th, 2009 in Rainforest Agribusiness | 2 comments

Photo by Lou Dematteis/Redux With so many people watching what happens at Copenhagen and fighting for more ambitious and legally binding treaties to combat climate change, this trip couldn’t have come at a better time. This January and February I’m headed to Borneo in Indonesia with Ethical Expeditions, a non-profit educational organization dedicated to teaching youth about environmental sustainability and the importance of conserving the planet. We’re learning about the rainforest deforestation happening there to create huge palm oil plantations, and looking at the... (continue reading)

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Author

Veronica is from Seattle, Washington and grew up in a family that spent every weekend outdoors. The love for nature she developed led to her involvement in several programs in high school, the most important of which was a student run non-profit outdoor education organization where she organized and ran a number of trips each year. Veronica was also involved in the teen naturalist program at the Seattle Aquarium which trained high school students in marine biology and conservation. She currently attends Quest University and is in the middle of her second year. Through Quest she is taking part in a two month program with Ethical Expeditions in Borneo this January and February to look at diverse flora and fauna and learn about environmental conservation and sustainability. Veronica loves watching obscure documentaries and finding inspiring quotes in books.

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RYSE is the youth branch of RAN, Rainforest Action Network, which works to protect the Earth and support human rights through education, grassroots organizing, and non-violent direct action.

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